Al Jazeera journalist Mohammed Fahmy stands behind bars at a court in Cairo on May 15, 2014.Reuters
In a strongly worded letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh el-Sisi, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has requested the immediate release of imprisoned Canadian journalist Mohammed Fahmy and informed Mr. Sisi that she will personally visit Egypt.
As the head of Mr. Fahmy's legal team, Ms. Clooney addressed the Egyptian president directly to inquire as to why Mr. Fahmy has still not been released and to request a formal meeting with the president to discuss the issue.
"Despite clear assurances that he would be released, Mr Fahmy remains in detention in Egypt. I therefore plan to visit Cairo in the near future to meet with Mr Fahmy and to discuss the prospects for his release," Ms. Clooney writes in a letter obtained by the Globe and Mail.
Ms. Clooney writes that although she was delighted by the release of Mr. Fahmy's co-defendant Australian Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste on Feb. 1, her team had been "informed by Egyptian government officials that [Mr. Fahmy's] release was to follow, and that it was imminent."
Therefore, the letter continues, she is requesting a meeting with president Sisi or his designated officials "as soon as possible" to discuss the status of the case. She also reminds the president that her team views Mr. Fahmy's detention as illegal and asks him to bring about Mr. Fahmy's release.
Mr. Fahmy, who was formerly a dual Canadian-Egyptian national, has applied to be deported by the Egyptian authorities after having renounced Egyptian citizenship and thereby making himself eligible for release under a presidential decree that allows the Egyptian government to deport foreign nationals who are serving jail time in Egypt.
Last week Egyptian officials intimated to the Globe and Mail that the final stages of Mr. Fahmy's deportation were underway and that it was "only be a matter of time" before he would be deported. Mr. Fahmy remains imprisoned in Egypt along with his and Greste's Egyptian Al Jazeera colleague Baher Mohamed.